My issued U.S. Pat. No. 3,777,258 discloses an arrangement for determining the amount of moisture in tobacco or other smoking goods, making use of a support for the tobacco and associated first and second electrodes which together with the tobacco itself form a capacitor of an electrical resonant circuit, and also making use of a measuring instrument for measuring at resonance an electrical signal of the resonant circuit which is indicative of the amount of moisture in the tobacco. In such an arrangement, the two electrodes of the measuring capacitor are associated with a bounding surface of the body or stream of tobacco, whereas means for pressing the tobacco cooperates with the tobacco support.
The entire disclosure of my above-identified United States patent is incorporated herein by reference.